In the days of the kings during Old Testament times, there was a classic showdown between good and evil that took place on a mountain. There was plenty of finger-pointing and “my God’s bigger than your God” trash talk going back and forth, and before long, the 2 sides decided to have a little fire-starting contest to see which side’s God really was bigger.
On one side was a prophet named Elijah. He was on the backside of a brilliant career and had seen a lot of amazing things take place during his run as an all-pro prophet. There was the never-ending flour and oil miracle, the boy raised from the dead, the ability to make rain start and stop. This man had seen it all. But there was an uprising, too. Prophets of Baal and Asherah (2 false gods who God’s people should never have treated as real gods) were selling a false religion to the Israelites and Elijah had seen enough. And so this wily veteran challenged the arrogant young leaders to a showdown on top of a mountain:
“Prepare a fire and then call on your god and I’ll call on mine. The one who answers with fire is the one true God.”
This past Monday night, there was a classic showdown between good and evil that took place in a stadium (I’ll let you figure out who was good and who was the Patriots). There was plenty of finger-pointing, trash talking and face mask grabbing. As a die hard Carolina Panthers fan – and an even bigger Steve Smith fan (as evidenced by my other post about him last year) – I’m not gonna lie: seeing Smitty getting into it with New England defensive back Aqib Talib during the Panthers MNF win made me want to jump into the TV and mix it up, too. Not even 5 minutes into the game, Talib was grabbing Smitty’s leg and doing everything he could to provoke a fight. Tempers flared, fans cheered, and the lines were drawn. Now, the game had a game within the game and the showdown raged on until the end.
Nope. That’s not right. Talib couldn’t answer the bell in the 4th quarter and watched the rest of the Panthers’ win from the sideline.
I’m surely not mocking a person’s injury (Talib aggravated a previous injury – probably happened while he was chasing Smitty around the field), but it reminded me of the ending to the first showdown on top of the mountain. No matter how big the false prophets talked, no matter how much they hyped the media and worked the crowd into a frenzy, when it was all said and done, it was a bunch of smack about nothing.
Not only was there no fire when the smoke cleared, there wasn’t even any smoke to clear. Epic. Fail.
Sometimes we get caught up in the moment and we hitch our cart to the wrong horse. Sometimes we see youth, or energy, or relevance, or coolness and get so caught up in the next big thing that we miss the faithful old things that have always – and will always – work. An aging prophet named Elijah saw his God answer with fire, and Monday night, while walking off the field, an aging Steve Smith knew that he had answered a challenge with fire, too.
You’re probably facing – or have faced – showdowns from an enemy who is loud, arrogant, and wrong. He screams lies at you about how unable you are to beat him, let alone compete with him. But your battle isn’t with him, because years ago during another showdown on top of another mountain, Jesus Christ defeated that same foe, and the Bible tells us in Colossians 2:15 that he didn’t barely beat him, but publicly humiliated him. Like Elijah did to the prophets – and Smitty did to Talib – Jesus did to the greatest loser this world has ever known.
All of them answered the challenge with fire, and because of that, the victory for you and me is on ice.
So when the devil tries to convince you that you can’t win, remind him of what Jesus has already done. Heck, just tell him the same thing that Smitty told Talib:
“Ice up, son. Ice up.”
